Cowboy Bebop Forgotten Sessions
by Adrian Santiago
Summary: A collection of side stories and alternate perspectives of the established universe of Cowboy Bebop. **NEW! Chapter 2:
1. Default Chapter

"Cowboy Bebop Forgotten Session: King of Hearts"  
Written by: Adrian Santiago  
Studio: Dejection Films  
------  
  
High above the shadowy streets, closer to the setting sun than  
the moon, a man wrapped in darkness sat. He enjoys this time  
of the day the most... this was the time he could sit, back  
against the light and stare over his silhouette drawn over the  
cathedral courtyard. It is this position that defines this  
broken shell of a man the clearest. All that was once good,  
all that brought him warmth, all that he used to rise out of  
bed for is now behind him, and all that's left is to wait for  
the calm and cold of night.  
  
In his mind, he played out a great drama of his past. Using  
his wits and that which lies beyond the grasp of sanity, he  
formulated questions and discussed them internally. It is  
only here that his riddles are solved. It is only here, out  
of salvation's mercy, where he can bring peace to himself  
so that he may sleep.  
  
And so begins his fight.  
  
"Life is like a candle... useless on it's own, it needs that  
special someone to spark a flame and bring purpose to it's  
being. Once, long ago, I met a woman who brought purpose to  
my own life. It was for her that my flame burned... and in  
her hands I felt my life becoming richer and more meaningful.  
  
It is beyond my understanding why she pines away for a ghost,  
for a man that died on the inside a long time ago. I do not  
understand why she would destroy me, the one whom she gave  
life to, for that which she can never possess in this world.  
She used to love me, but her heart belongs to that zombie,  
the one I once called my friend.  
  
Spike Spiegel... a man so out of tune with the real world  
he isn't sure if he himself is alive or dead. If I so wanted,  
I could end his life within an hour, but then he wouldn't be  
made to suffer like he does. It is my will that keeps Spike  
alive, for I am the only one that can kill him.  
  
For now, my will is to have him spend every waking moment  
praying and fantasizing of that fated reunion. It is my will  
that fills his dreams with false hope of having his candle  
lit once more. It is my will that he feel the same pain I do  
until I grow tired of it and want nothing more from life."  
  
The man's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the roof  
hatch opening behind him. A man dressed in a suit came up  
from the cramped ladder shaft and drew close by.  
  
"Sir," the man said, "we just got word that the Bebop has  
entered the port on the south side of town. What are your  
orders?"  
  
A moment passes.  
  
"Sir? Uh, Vicious?" the man in the suit continued.  
  
Upon hearing his name called, Vicious stood and faced the  
man... his cold eyes found his heart.  
  
Heartbeat.  
  
After a brief moment, he spoke. "And I looked, and behold  
a pale horse. And his name that sat upon him was Death,  
and Hell followed with him."  
  
Heartbeat. Heartbeat.  
  
"Sir?"  
  
Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat.  
  
Vicious moved closer to the man, eyes now fixated in the  
distance.  
  
Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat.  
  
"Never use my name again." Vicious turned his back to the  
man. "Peasants should never speak of their kings by name,  
just as kings should never speak of their Gods by name."  
  
Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat.  
  
The man tensed. He didn't know what Vicious would do next.  
  
Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat.  
Heartbeat.  
  
Vicious turned towards the man again, hand on his sword, and  
approached him steadily.  
  
Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat.  
Heartbeat. Heartbeat.  
  
Panic overcame the man. "Sir! I apologize! I didn't mean  
any disrespect, it's just that you didn't seem like-"  
  
Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat.  
Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat.  
  
Vicious moved past the man, and spoke to him as he passed by.  
  
Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat.  
Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat. Heartbeat.  
  
"Move the body to the concert house. Mao Yen Rai was a fan  
of the Opera... if they're here for him, they will come to  
find him there."  
  
Heartbeat.  
  
The man let out a breath of relief. "Sir! It will be done,  
sir!".  
  
Vicious entered the cathedral. There, members of the Red  
Dragon syndicate all formed a line and readied themselves  
to receive orders. Vicious stopped short of the formation  
and looked upward towards the stained glass display high  
above the pews.  
  
The last remaining light of day caused the figure of that  
woman to glow. She was a beautiful, golden haired saint  
who looked over all who came into the cathedral. Her eyes  
brought calm to the stormy hearts of sinners, and her warm  
face cast forgiveness on all who looked to her.  
  
Vicious lowered his eyes from the window. The voices in  
his head returned.  
  
"I remember that gray afternoon... when I had gone to ask  
Julia if she would accept my love forever. It was meant to  
be the fated day that I would have my heart filled with the  
happiness I've only read about in stories. At first I had  
thought she had gone out on her own, only to find that she  
had gone to be with my nemesis.  
  
The red string of fate seems to have us three bound together.  
Spike and Julia together, and me alone forced to look on  
tied by my wrists. My heart, like my mind, is a slave to  
the possibilities of what those two may have done. Is it  
too much to ask for her love, or is it too much to ask  
that I had never come to know them?"  
  
The thugs, still in formation, began to cast questioning  
looks at each other.  
  
One of them whispered, "What is he doing?"  
  
Vicious turned his attention towards the group of men still  
standing at his side.  
  
One man broke formation and declared, "Sir! Your men have  
fortified the cathedral as you requested sir. We now have  
armed guards posted on the first and second floors, and our  
rogue scout is in position across the street to alert us  
if anything comes towards our location."  
  
Vicious looked towards the great, wooden doors that were  
beneath the stained glass.  
  
"Very good. Keep an eye on things around here. Don't let  
a single thing slip through a hole in the wall. I'm going  
to the concert hall myself... there's an old friend there  
I'm dying to see again."  
  
And with that, he began his solemn march towards the doors.  
  
Vicious let his face sink into thought, as he often did  
when he was thinking of a plan.  
  
"Spike, you come to me, or I come to you. Either way we  
both kill ourselves for what reason? Because of a woman?  
Not because you stole something of value to me, and certainly  
not because I have something you want: We both die for the  
love of a woman."  
  
Vicious threw the doors apart. The haze of the pollution  
glowed high above the skyscrapers, and a bright blanket of  
orange cuddled the blackened cathedral.  
  
"Spike, the man I once knew as my brother I now speak of as  
cancer: One that I can not cut out, one that consumes me  
from within. Everyday I allow him in my mind I can feel my  
lifeline being strangled."  
  
Vicious kicked up dust every step he made. Small clouds  
would surround his boots, and slowly fade in the wind. He  
had his face fixed on the hover carrier parked a few feet  
away in the courtyard.  
  
"It used to be we would stand back-to-back, and we would use  
our guns to defend one another. Then Julia came along, and  
by us turning towards her we also turned our guns upon each  
other. If she had never found her way into our fate...  
  
...wait... this is an avenue I've never seen before. It's  
possible that in order to set everything back to the way it  
was, all that I must do is kill-"  
  
A voice rang out from inside the carrier.  
  
"Sir! Please get on board quickly, we don't have much time  
before the opera opens to the public!"  
  
Vicious boarded the hover carrier and soon, they were off  
towards downtown.  
  
The city streets were full of life. Old men exhibit their  
thick, white beards and speak of the days lost. The children  
that listen laugh at the silly actions of their elders when  
they were younger. One day in the future, these children  
will be the ones telling the stories, and the days and games  
they play today will be all but lost to them as well.  
  
"Life goes on."  
  
Mothers scurry around busy street markets, looking for the  
apples that are just a day fresher than the rest. Children  
pluck colorful pieces of candy from the shelves, as if the  
greens, purples, and reds would make the sugar taste any  
sweeter. Reckless youth break glass bottles in an alley,  
and run away in fright the moment the old bum begins to  
stir from his sleep.  
  
"Everybody's dead or dying anyway."  
  
A boy frantically looks for a movie theater to take his  
first date to, but can't seem to find a show that is soon  
to start. A dog finds a piece of meat that fell from  
somebody's sandwich. A car slams into a storefront, but  
luckily, everybody's okay.  
  
"It's all just a long goodbye until then."  
  
The hovercraft lands in a parking garage, operated by the  
Red Dragon Syndicate. This was one of many muscle jobs  
that worked to give the Syndicate a steady flow of cash  
on a day to day basis. A job no better suited to a common  
thug, Vicious is above this level of petty crime.  
  
Two of the crew members sitting beside Vicious wrap the  
body of Mao Yen Rai in a thick, black cloth. One grabs up  
the body by the upper torso, and the other by the legs.  
They both hurry into the opera house ahead of Vicious and  
the rest.  
  
Vicious walks, unescorted, towards the opera house along  
the sky bridge between it and the parking garage. The  
hot, dusk air was filled with the voices of the performers  
tuning up. As he drew closer to the concert hall, he had  
begun to recognize what they were singing.  
  
"Ballad of Fallen Angels", Vicious thought to himself. "I  
remember hearing this for the first time out of Julia's  
record player.  
  
Julia? Oh yes, Julia. The Julia that keeps me up at  
night. The Julia that stabs my eyes when I'm awake.  
The Julia that should have never come to be in my life.  
The Julia that stole the only friend I ever trusted in,  
and gave me a love I was stupid to believe in.  
  
If I'm meant to travel the galaxy until I kill Spike,  
then so be it. If Spike is meant the same fate for me,  
then so be it. What happens to Julia then? Would she  
grieve our two corpses now that we no longer walk? Why  
is it that she refuses to see us dead as we are?  
  
Her tears are all men like me and Spike have to live  
for. Once those have been shed, then surely we will  
die ourselves. She knows this, and yet she tortures  
us by keeping us alive. It is her will that causes us  
this pain... this suffering."  
  
Vicious stopped on the bridge and looked down at the  
street in front of the opera house.  
  
"The red string of fate is a noose tied around our necks.  
If only I could kill Julia, then she would be unable to  
force her cruelty upon us. With nothing to live for,  
Spike will finally come to me.  
  
Weary of life, longing for death, we will meet. And  
then? Peace. Sweet, merciful peace."  
  
Another hover carrier went rushing by Vicious and landed  
in the street in front of the concert hall. A woman  
emerged, handed her keys to the valet and entered through  
the front of the building.  
  
Vicious turned from the scene in the street.  
  
"Spike, you coward. You sent another woman to me..."  
  
-------  
See you, Space Cowboy... 


	2. Cowboy Bebop Forgotten Sessions: Guns an...

"Cowboy Bebop Forgotten Session: Guns and Fungus  
Written by: Adrian Santiago  
Studio: Dejection Films  
------  
  
"This is an old cemetary. A lot older than anyone alive today,  
anyway. I remember coming here to bury my grandmother way back  
when I was maybe ten or eleven years old. Hell if my memory of  
this place is different from what I see now... I remember all of  
it like it was just yesterday.  
  
My grandmother died from a stroke when she was about 55. I can't  
remember who she was or anything good she may have told me, but  
I remember standing here, knee-deep in mist. The headstones on  
the hill over there seemed to be floating in the air over the sun  
and the fog. I remember this same old gray-haired preacher  
giving the same old eulegy back then that he's giving now. I  
guess the classics never die.  
  
The scene is the same, but the story is different now. This  
time around I'm here to bury my older brother, J. This was one  
cool cat that I grew up idolizing, and I was lucky enough just  
to know him let alone work beside him.  
  
We were bounty hunters, you see? We used to be the world famous  
Shaft Brothers... and now, I'm just the younger of the Shaft  
Brothers.  
  
Our last run together was supposed to be short and sweet: Pick  
up this illegal mushroom dealer on Mars, turn him in, and take  
home a cool 200,000 woo's. 200,000 woolongs, man... it seems  
like chump change now, and I would pay twice that if we never  
had to go on that bounty.  
  
Me and J get to Mars, we find this fat bastard, and being the  
wormy little snake in the grass he is, he tries to buy his way  
out of the bounty. Kinda funny to me that he would try to buy  
freedom with fungus, but for J, this was no laughing matter. J  
knew all about these mushrooms and how much things like that  
sell for on the streets.  
  
In J's mind, if you sell drug addicts their death, you would be  
killing two birds with one stone. We take home the woo's, they  
go off and jump from a building. Nobody's ever the wiser. But  
for some reason, J wanted to try one of these mushrooms... I've  
never heard of him interested in stuff like that before. Still,  
J was always called the shots. I was there to back his play.  
  
After he swallowed it, I looked him in the eyes and I saw them  
just glaze right over. I talked to him... shook him around a  
little bit but he was pretty much dead. What the hell can I say  
about what happened afterward? It was just too damned freaky  
to explain.  
  
After about a minute or two of trying to talk to J, he looked  
up at my afro and said something real quietly. I got in close  
to listen to him say it again, and that fool just started to  
laugh at me. I yelled at him and told him to get real, but he  
just kept right on laughing.  
  
The doctor said that his lungs had split apart at the seams  
long before he finally stopped laughing... and that being  
beaten to death with a metal rod would have been less painful  
for him.  
  
So now here we are... my brother's dead, my mother's crying,  
and I'm on fire inside. I want to find that bastard Domino  
Walker and bring him to justice. If I killed the mother fucker,  
I would be no different from that rat."  
  
The priest closed his book. J's coffin began to lower into  
the ground.  
  
"Thus, children, concludes the final prayer for the eldest son  
of the Shaft family. May God's radiant light guide his soul  
towards the heavens, where he shall be awaiting our arrival to  
the hereafter. God bless us all."  
  
With that, Momma Shaft began to lose it. Momma Shaft, who had  
maintained her composure, began to let her tears flow freely.  
  
"Oh lord! That's not my baby J! My baby wasn't going to go  
down like that! He did your work, lord! He worked with the  
law and brought criminals to justice! Why did you take him from  
me? Why did you take this angel away from us, God!?"  
  
The mist in the cemetary got thicker, the air grew cold. It  
was sparse at first, but it soon became a full rain. God heard  
Momma Shaft, and God was trying to wash away her tears.  
  
I grabbed ahold of her and said, "Momma! Come on, momma...   
alm down! Everything's gonna be just fine momma! Let's go home  
now, J wouldn't want us to get our Sunday best all wet and  
catch a cold."  
  
This only went to rile her up more. "NO! I want my baby back!  
I already buried my husband, I don't want to see my son go  
too! Please God bring him back to life! Take this old woman  
instead!"  
  
The priest came to my momma and hugged her. Momma began to  
cry into his shoulder.  
  
"Momma Shaft... you need to get ahold of yourself, baby. I  
was here and helped see off your grandmother years ago, and I  
was here when your husband passed away shortly before your  
youngest was born. I've seen your grief before, and now it's  
much too great."  
  
Momma spoke between quick breaths of air, "I just want my  
baby back..."  
  
The priest began to pat her back and said,"Would you be so  
selfish that you would take away his place in heaven from him?  
Would you try to barter your life for his everlasting peace  
in holy paradise?"  
  
Momma took her head off the priest's shoulder and looked him  
in the face. She had a look of understanding on her face, and  
her eyes lowered slightly.  
  
The priest went on. "Understand Momma Shaft that J died doing  
the lord's work, and that he fought against evil, making the  
world a safer place for everybody's children. It was not the  
will of God that took his life, but the will of evil men."  
  
These words inspired me, and I knew they filled my mother with  
confidence and gave her some peace of mind the moment she heard  
them.  
  
"Momma Shaft... those who are wicked of spirit shall be the  
ones to feel God's vengeance and the Devil's torture in eternal  
damnation. The man that tainted and killed your son will have  
the venomous saliva of Satan himself dripping on the back of  
his neck in the afterlife, and your son will be welcomed and  
embraced in the mercy of the lord. It's the simple matter of  
divine retribution."  
  
I had felt guilty over J's death, and still do. I wondered if  
by letting him eat the mushroom, I was no better than the fool  
that gave it to him? Now I wonder if I'll be spending my days  
up in heaven or down in hell.  
  
I asked the priest,"What's this divine intervention again?"  
  
The priest looked up at me and said,"If you do bad, you get bad  
paid back tenfold. If you do good, then good things happen  
your way. Any act of good overpowers an act of evil... but  
sadly, most evil men never do good, so they always get what's  
coming to them in the end."  
  
Now, I really liked that concept. "Evil men always get what's  
coming to them in the end." That is some cold-blooded, mother  
fucking fury of heaven shit right there. These were some damn  
powerful words the priest said to us, and I think that Domino  
Walker would feel moved by it too.  
  
If not, I've got a bullet that would love to move some teeth  
out of his face.  
  
Just like that, a lightbulb turned on in my head.  
  
The only way to purge my guilt, my sin, is to help speed along  
Walker's deliverance to justice. The only way to do my good  
deed that outshines my bad deed is to make Walker settle his  
debt to my family and to the world through this "divine  
retribution".  
  
I grabbed my momma by the shoulders and looked at her and said,  
"Momma! I'm gonna go find the man that did this to J, and I'm  
gonna take him down... this is my new purpose in life."  
  
She looked back at me and said, "Boy... don't you know any  
better than that? I've lost my husband, one of my sons, are  
you just gonna go off and leave your momma all by herself for  
the rest of her short life?"  
  
I understood where she was coming from.  
  
"Momma, this is God's will. God's words delivered by his  
servant, the priest, have inspired me, and now I'm gonna get  
prophetic on Domino Walker's ass. I've got the protection of  
God, momma... I feel it. You've gotta trust in me, and I will  
set things right."  
  
Those were the last words I said to her... I said that I  
wouldn't come back until I got Domino Walker, and so far I  
haven't.  
  
It's been three damned years, running between Earth and Mars  
time after time. No matter how close I've come, I've never  
caught up to Domino Walker. As the time goes by, his bounty  
grows and grows, every single woolong a slap across the face  
of me and my family.  
  
No matter how many guys I pay off, no matter how many times  
I grab an express to where Domino's going to be, he's always  
one step ahead of me! It's enough to make a man go crazy...  
  
...and some people say that I have gone crazy! They look at  
me like I'm some kind of psycho... walking around eating a  
child's candy bar, dragging this big wooden casket behind me  
wherever I go. I bet they wouldn't think I'm crazy if I had  
pulled my shotgun or my grenade launcher on them! Then we'll  
see who's whack and who's not... if they only knew.  
  
I've heard a lot of talk around that Domino's right here  
near this town, or that he's coming soon. All of the old  
cowboys me and J used to hang with are coming... Cleopatra,  
Foxy, Jackson, Coffy, Dolemite... and even some guys I've  
never heard of... like the Richland Brothers, the Forney Girl,  
or the Bebop.  
  
One thing's for sure... I'm here now, dragging along this big  
ass casket... waiting for oppurtunity to knock on my front  
door. Then I can avenge my brother, go home to my dear old  
momma, and-  
  
"Noooooooo! Meanie!"  
  
What in the hell was that?  
  
"Gimmie something to eat!"  
  
Damnit all to hell... I hate neglecting fathers worse of all.  
Wait a minute... who's that the kid is talking to?  
  
"Dammit! Quit hanging off me, kid!"  
  
I ran across the street... this is it! This is the moment I  
have waited three years for! DOMINO WALKER! I'VE GOT YOU!  
See you, Space Cowboy...  
------------  
Enjoy "Cowboy Bebop: Forgotten Sessions"? Feel free to  
contact me for previews of upcoming chapters.  
  
e-mail: y2washu566@yahoo.com  
aim: Tactical Hobo 


End file.
